[SOLVED] preg_replace how to allow ^a-z0-9-,._

[sayedsohail]

Hi everyone,

This is my preg_replace which works fine and replaces all characters other than the set specified within ^a-z0-9, but how do i change this to allow ^a-z0-9 plus (-,._), and single space between the $var value

 

i.e,

 

cat's      ltd., UK

to

cat's ltd., UK

 

$var1 = preg_replace('/([^a-z0-9 ])/i', '', $var);

[MadTechie]

$var1 = preg_replace('/[^a-z0-9 ,.\'-]*/i', '', $var1 ); //clean chars
$var1 = preg_replace('/\s{2,}/i', ' ', $var1 );//clean spaces

 

as a note this should be in the RegEx Section

[sayedsohail]

preg_replace('/[^a-z0-9 ,.\'-]*/i', '', $var1 );

 

can you please explain why we have used ,.\'- and */, please. can't we just use ,.'- instead.

 

Thanks.

[MadTechie]

 

your replacing everything except

a-z0-9 ,.'-

now you have to escape the single quote as were using that to quote the string to ' becomes \'

you don't need the *

[sayedsohail]

if you wish to answer sorry what is that * we used for.

[MadTechie]

just means 0 or more occurances of the previous set.. the fact is you don't need it for that.